


Working Fine, No Glitches

by galacticsugar



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Alternate Universe - College/University, Customer Service & Tech Support, Flirting, Fluff, M/M, Swearing, extremely realistic portrayal of calum hood's technical skills, luke works at the IT help desk and calum needs a lot of help, more sweets because that's my brand, or maybe he knows more than he lets on hmmmm
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-30
Updated: 2021-01-30
Packaged: 2021-03-17 04:21:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,824
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29094177
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/galacticsugar/pseuds/galacticsugar
Summary: The phone rings. Luke groans as he picks it up. It’s Monday and it’s early and Luke’s still trying to recover from his leisurely holiday break schedule.Please let it be someone nice. Please let it be someone nice.“IT Help Desk, this is Luke.”***Luke is Calum's favorite IT Help Desk Employee, and Calum is Luke's favorite customer.or5 times Calum reached out to Luke and 1 time Luke reached out to Calum.
Relationships: Luke Hemmings/Calum Hood
Comments: 17
Kudos: 43





	Working Fine, No Glitches

**Author's Note:**

> this one was inspired off some social media posts i saw where fans were talking about meeting calum in informal situations and how he was really friendly and engaged and asked them lots of questions and was genuinely interested in what they had to say. 
> 
> i’ve been thinking about an IT support story for a bit and thought it would be a good way to translate that vibe into a fic, so here we are. it’s also my first 5+1. did i do it right?
> 
> maybe one day i will write a fic that isn’t mostly about coffee and/or sugary treats but today is not that day. (shoutout to [adri](https://archiveofourown.org/users/petalrock/pseuds/petalrock), my fellow donut poet.)
> 
> title from **fembot** by robyn.

**I (Monday)**

The phone rings. Luke groans as he picks it up. It’s Monday and it’s early and Luke’s still trying to recover from his leisurely holiday break schedule. _Please let it be someone nice. Please let it be someone nice._ “IT Help Desk, this is Luke.”

“Hi. Yeah – shut up, Ash, I’m on the phone with the IT guy! Sorry. Luke was it?” Luke lets out a sigh of relief. The guy on the other end of the line has a deep voice but an informal tone that screams _student_ , which Luke can deal with. Students are less demanding than professors and staff, and they’re a lot more likely to accept whatever Luke tells them instead of challenging every word he says.

“Yes, I’m Luke. What can I help you with today?” Luke pulls up his notes app and positions his fingers over his keyboard.

There’s loud tapping in the background, like maybe this guy on the phone is mildly assaulting his laptop. “It’s probably something stupid but I can’t get my laptop connected to the wi-fi in the dorms.”

Easy enough. Luke’s gotten this call dozens of times before. “Okay, I can help you with that. Before we get started can you let me know your name and university ID?”

“You can? Awesome!” Luke’s not sure why it’s surprising that the IT Help Desk can help with one of the most common IT issues on campus, but he appreciates this guy’s attitude nevertheless. “I’m Calum Hood, ID is cth474.”

“Hi, Calum.” Luke taps the information into his ticketing system and starts gathering details from Calum about his problem. “Have you ever been able to connect this laptop to the dorm wi-fi before?”

“No sir. I just moved in. Transferred at the semester.” Sir? _Please_. Luke’s currently wearing a Rainbow Brite t-shirt he got from the thrift store because he thought it was funny.

“And can you confirm you’re trying to connect to the network called campus-dorms?”

There’s a beat of silence. Luke’s used to this, though. Customers often get distracted with their own troubleshooting and temporarily forget about him. It gives him plenty of time to doodle.

“Uhhhm. Well. I think you discovered the problem, Luke.” Calum’s voice is wry. “I’m an idiot and I was trying to get on the normal campus wi-fi and not the dorm wi-fi.”

“Oh, well that’s an easy one, then.” Luke’s seen much stupider issues in his six months working at the Help Desk. He won’t hold it against Calum, especially if it means he has a quick and easy call. “So you were able to connect once you found the right network?”  
  
Calum laughs. “Yes. You don’t have to sound so nice about it. I can’t believe I bothered you with this.”

Luke laughs along, always grateful for an easygoing customer. There are plenty who would redirect their embarrassment as anger at Luke instead of laughing at themselves like Calum is doing. “It’s no problem. Makes my job easy. Now I have more time to watch Netflix.”

“Oh, what are you watching?” Calum asks. This is another reason why Luke prefers dealing with students. They indulge his unprofessional whims instead of sending strongly-worded emails to his supervisor.

“Just _The Office_ for the millionth time. I can’t watch anything new at work because the customers are too distracting.”

“Goddamn customers always ruining the workday,” Calum says. “I love _The Office_ , though. What episode are you on?”

“Oh, I just started season two,” Luke says with a smile. “I’m on –”

“THE DUNDIES!” Calum yells so loudly Luke has to lift the headset off his ear.

“Yup,” Luke confirms. “Pam is just about to feel God in this Chili’s tonight.”

“Do you always watch Netflix while you’re at work?” Luke’s not sure why Calum is so interested in his work habits, and he should probably wrap up this call as quickly as he can. His supervisor gets reports on how long he spends on each call and shorter is always better for his performance review.

But on the other hand, the longer Luke talks to Calum, who is kind and friendly, the less time he risks getting a call from an angry professor who expects Luke to break a million university policies so they can get their TAs to do all their work for them or something.

“Only when I have phone shifts on Mondays and Wednesdays. It’s harder to get away with at the walk-in desk.”

Calum hums thoughtfully. “Yeah, I suppose it’s not ideal if, like, the president of the university comes by for some help with her email and you’re watching a gory murder scene or something.”

“Right,” Luke agrees. “Although the president actually has an entire team of her own IT minions so I don’t think she’ll be visiting us.”

“She’s missing out, then,” Calum says. “This is a top tier customer service experience for me. Do you guys have comment cards or surveys or something?”

Luke grins and swings in his desk chair, feet hitting up against either side of his desk to propel him back and forth. “Yeah, you’ll get a survey in your email after this.”

“Awesome! Luke, right? I’m going to tell your boss to give you a raise.”

“That’s right. I don’t think he will, but I appreciate the sentiment. He might bring me a doughnut or something at least.”

“Have you been to the doughnut place across from the Java House?” Calum asks.

 _Has Luke been to the doughnut place_. C’mon. “It’s so fucking good,” Luke says, licking his lips at the thought of the maple bar he’d had for breakfast not 20 minutes ago. He can still taste the icing on his lips. “The Help Desk is right across the street so I’m there pretty much every morning. Highly recommend.”

“Really? I’ll have to try it. I’m still trying to get my bearings on campus and my roommate is a health nut or something so he won’t get doughnuts with me,” Calum says sadly.

“That’s awful,” Luke sympathizes. “It’s definitely worth a trip on your own, though.”

“What would you suggest I try first?” Calum asks. Luke can’t fathom why this guy would take doughnut recommendations from a complete stranger but he’s happy to oblige.

“They have a lot of crazy stuff that will catch your eye,” Luke warns, “But the absolute best thing on the menu is the maple bar. Doesn’t look like much, but it’s amazing.”

“Sometimes the simplest things are the best,” Calum says agreeably. “I like your style, Luke.”

“Thanks, Calum.” Luke stifles a giggle. “I hope you’re not disappointed. I don’t want you to change your mind and give me a negative survey.”

Calum scoffs. “I realize I’m overstepping the responsibilities of your position. I won’t hold you accountable for doughnut recommendations on your survey.”

“I appreciate that,” Luke says. “I wish my job was giving doughnut recommendations. I think I’m probably better at that than IT support.”

“What are you talking about? You solved my problem in two seconds.” Luke hears some commotion in the background behind Calum, and then he’s addressing someone else, his voice muffled. “Damnit, Ash, I’m trying to learn about the doughnut place, give me a sec!” There’s some scraping and shuffling, then his voice is back to normal. “Sorry about that. My roommate is annoying. As I was saying. You solved my problem so I think you’re probably pretty good at IT support.”

“Your problem was really easy,” Luke points out, typing up some notes in Calum’s ticket and closing it out.

“Hmm. Well. I’m terrible with technology,” Calum says. “I’m sure I’ll have a reason to call back with something more complicated and prove you wrong at some point.”

Luke smiles to himself. It’s a nice idea, but even if Calum called the Help Desk once a week for the entire semester, the odds of him getting through to Luke again were relatively small. Calum doesn’t need to know that, though. It’s not like it really matters.

“We’re always happy to help,” Luke says, slipping back into his practiced dialogue for ending a call.

“Cool. Um. I guess I’ll leave you alone then.” Calum sounds weirdly disappointed. Luke wonders if he’s lonely. Sometimes they get calls like that, people who do actually need help but also just really like having someone to talk to for a while. But Calum doesn’t seem the type. He’s got his roommate, at least. They seem to be friendly aside from the doughnut issue.

“You know where to find us if you need anything. Doughnut recommendations included.” Luke’s not sure why he says it. It is theoretically true – they _are_ supposed to try to help with anything a customer asks, whether it’s IT-related or not. But mostly Luke just wants the call to end on a high note.

It works. “I do!” Calum sounds thrilled. “I might just take you up on it. Thanks for all your expertise, Luke!”

“You’re very welcome. Have a happy Monday.”

Luke hangs up the phone, warm with the feeling of pride that comes from successfully helping a customer. If he had to catch a call first thing on Monday morning, he’s happy he was lucky enough to get Calum.

**II (Wednesday AM)**

“Yo, Luke!” Michael’s voice cuts through Luke’s playlist, and he quickly pauses it and spins in his chair to face Michael in the cubicle across from him.

“What’s up?”

“There’s some guy calling who says he was working with you on something earlier this week. Calum Hood? Wants me to transfer him to you.” Michael sounds skeptical, which is par for the course. They usually try to shield each other from accidental pet customers. It’s almost never a good thing when a repeat caller latches on to a particular Help Desk employee.

Luke should probably tell Michael that Calum’s issue was resolved and there’s no reason for him to be involved if Calum has a new issue he needs help with. But. Calum was nice. And easy. And Luke just really liked talking to him. “Yeah, you can transfer him,” Luke says.

“Oh, all right,” Michael replies, pleasantly surprised. One less customer for him to deal with. “Here he comes.” Michael taps a few buttons on his phone and suddenly Luke’s is ringing.

“IT Help Desk, this is Luke,” he answers, smiling wide. It’s true what they say – you _can_ hear when someone’s smiling.

“Luke!” Calum is almost disturbingly enthusiastic for a Wednesday morning. “How are you today?”

“Great now that I’m talking to my new favorite customer,” Luke jokes. “My boss printed out your survey and tacked it up on the wall.” Luke had been working the walk-in desk downstairs the previous morning when his boss appeared with the printout:

_Best customer service experience of my life. 10/10 would recommend Luke’s services for any and everything. He went above and beyond to help me with a HIGHLY COMPLEX IT issue and even provided doughnut recommendations at my request. He deserves a raise, a promotion, a paid day off, and all the doughnuts he can eat._

“Amazing! Did he get you a doughnut?”

Luke chuckles. “No, but he promised he would bring some in for all of us on Friday. What about you? Have you tried a maple bar yet?”

“Not yet, but soon,” Calum says. “Pretty uncool that your boss is bringing doughnuts for everyone, though. I specifically said _you_ deserve all the doughnuts you can eat.”

“I suppose he’s afraid he’d have a coup on his hands if he didn’t bring enough for everyone. We’re a pretty scary bunch.” Luke sees Michael’s head popping out curiously from behind his cubicle wall, watching Luke with suspicious eyes. Luke shakes his head at him and scoots his chair closer to his desk so Michael can’t see him as well.

“I bet,” Calum laughs. “You guys could probably do some real damage with all your IT administrator powers.”

Luke considers that for a moment, tapping a pen on his desk thoughtfully. “Yeah. We could block internet access. Change grades. Fuck up your email account.” He quickly covers his mouth, remembering that these calls get recorded and he probably shouldn’t be swearing, and he definitely shouldn’t be listing all the unethical things he could do with the elevated permissions he has for his job.

Calum is unfazed. “Damn, maybe I should get a job at the Help Desk.”

“No offense, Calum, but I’m not entirely sure you’re qualified seeing as you’ve had to call us for help twice this week.”

“I’m _definitely_ not qualified, but you can train me up, can’t you?”

Luke scratches his neck. “I mean, maybe…but then I’d lose my favorite customer. Not sure it’s worth it.”

Calum laughs and the sound of it tickles at Luke’s brain pleasantly. He smiles to himself. “Good strategy,” Calum says. “Flatter me enough that I don’t apply to become your most annoying coworker."

“I bet you’d constantly be in my cube with questions.”

“Oh, all the time,” Calum agrees. “I’d be incredibly distracting. You’d never get anything done.”

“That doesn’t sound so bad.” Luke’s eyes catch on the empty support ticket sitting on his computer screen and he remembers that he’s probably supposed to be helping Calum with something and not just chatting shit. “Speaking of not getting anything done, what was it you needed help with this morning?”

“Right, I did need help.” Luke hears muffled laughter from someone in the background. “Is there, uh, a problem with email today or something?” Calum asks. “I can’t seem to get logged in.”

“Oh, I haven’t heard about any issues with email today.” Luke starts clicking through the service outages to make sure no email outages have been reported. “Are you getting an error message?”

“Uh. Yeah, it just says, like, _login error_.”

Okay, vague, but nothing Luke hasn’t dealt with before. “Can you log in to other university services?” Luke is really hoping this isn’t an issue of Calum typing in his password incorrectly or something. He doesn’t think he can bear the secondhand embarrassment.

“Hmm, let me check.” There’s some scuffling as Calum taps on his laptop. “Yes!” Calum exclaims victoriously. “I can get into Courses Online no problem.”

“That’s strange, then.” Luke falls back on a classic. “Maybe try clearing your web browser cache and cookies?”

“Okay, sounds great!” Calum says. A beat of silence. “Um. How do I do that?”

Luke steps Calum through the process and instructs him to try logging in to his email again. He’s got a million message notifications from Michael flashing at the bottom of his screen but he ignores them all.

“Were you able to log in?” Luke asks hopefully. As much as he likes talking to Calum, he would really rather not have to actually use his brain to do any complex troubleshooting.

“Success!” Calum’s enthusiasm for completing simple technical tasks is kind of adorable.

“Yay!” Luke cheers along with Calum. Why the hell not.

“Thanks, Luke, for another mind-blowing customer service experience,” Calum says with exaggerated sincerity. “I look forward to the opportunity to fill out another survey about how amazing you are.”

Luke giggles, but stifles it quickly. Definitely not the way to behave on a recorded phone call. Not to mention Michael’s message count is increasing exponentially the longer Luke stays on the phone with Calum, and Luke’s certain giggling will only make it worse. “I have bad news for you, Calum,” Luke says as he types up Calum’s support ticket. “You can only get one survey a week no matter how many times we help you.”

“ _What_?” Calum’s voice is high, affronted. Like Luke just informed him that he thinks puppies aren’t cute, or something equally ridiculous. “That’s discrimination against the technically challenged!”

“I know, I’m sorry. Supposedly if we send out surveys too often people get annoyed and stop responding.”

Calum huffs dramatically. “How am I supposed to show my appreciation for your work if I can’t fill out a survey?”

“Hmm. I guess just by being nice and saying thank you?” Luke bites his lip absentmindedly, doodling curlicues on the corner of his notepad.

“That doesn’t seem like enough. It’ll have to do for now, I guess. But I’m going to think of something better, I promise.”

Luke’s not sure what that’s supposed to mean. They’re going to hang up soon and things will return to business as usual. But honestly, just the fact that Calum cares enough to be disappointed that he’s not getting a lame customer survey is appreciation enough for Luke. “Thanks. I’m just happy to have a friendly customer.”

“Are people mean to you?” Calum asks, aghast. “How is that possible?”

Luke chuckles humorlessly. “Have you ever worked in customer service, Calum?”

“Well, no.”

“I’m not surprised.” Luke finally gives in and clicks into Michael’s messages. There are an awful lot of exclamation marks and eyeball emojis. “Mean customers come with the territory.”

“But—” Calum sputters, “You’re so nice! And helpful! And you have an excellent telephone voice! What more could they want?”

“A lot of people have unreasonable expectations.” Luke shrugs, forgetting Calum can’t actually see him. Hmm. What does Calum look like? He sounds like he has a cute smile. “It’s fine though. Most people are nice, they just aren’t usually as friendly as you.”

“What do you mean? Isn’t being nice and being friendly basically the same thing?”

Luke imagines Calum in his dorm room, sitting at his desk – or maybe sprawled on his bed. Some textbooks strewn across the floor, probably some headphones nearby.

“Not exactly. Being nice is, like, when customers don’t yell and they listen to what I say and are respectful. But you ask questions and stuff. Like you’re actually interested in my job and my thoughts. Most people don’t do that.”

“Huh,” Calum replies thoughtfully. “I guess I just assumed everyone did that sort of thing. I haven’t had much experience, y’know, being a customer. This might actually be my first time.”  
  
Luke laughs, endeared both by Calum’s inexperience _being a customer_ and his implicit belief that to be a customer is to be a friend. “Well you’re doing great, Calum. If we got surveys on customers, I’d give you an amazing one.”

“Thanks!” Calum sounds genuinely touched. “Oh fuck, is it after 10 already? I’m sorry, Luke, I gotta get to class.”

Luke has definitely been on the phone with Calum for way too long anyway. He hopes there’s not a queue of customers on the line waiting for help. “No problem. Have a good day.”

As soon as Luke hangs up the phone, a shadow falls over Luke’s desk. Michael clears his throat melodramatically. “What the fuck was that?” It’s not accusatory, just…curious.

Luke spins his chair to look up at Michael. “Just this guy I helped earlier this week. His problems have been easy to fix but he likes to chat.”

Michael crosses his arms and leans against the edge of Luke’s cubicle wall. “Sounded like you were having a good time over here. Maybe next time he calls I should keep him instead of letting you have all the fun.”

Luke rolls his eyes. “He’ll probably never call again. Well. That’s not true. He’s pretty clueless with technology. But yeah. He’s an easy customer.” He tries to be extra nonchalant about it. He doesn’t actually want Michael or any of his other coworkers to get Calum’s next phone call, but if he makes a big deal out of it, Michael will surely find some way to make Luke’s life miserable.

“Calum, was it?” Michael asks, pushing off the cube wall with his shoulder. Luke nods and Michael smirks as he returns to his own cube. “I’ll make a note to transfer him to you if he calls again.”

**III (Wednesday PM)**

When he’s done with class for the day, Luke stops back by the Help Desk to pick up the phone charger he forgot in his cubicle that morning at the end of his shift. He moves quickly and quietly down the row of cubes, trying to sneak past his coworkers so he doesn’t get pulled into any off-the-clock conversations.

He skids to a stop when he sees a white and blue box sitting on his desk, right next to his keyboard. He knows that box; he’s conditioned to smile when he sees that box. It’s from the cookie delivery shop on campus, and half a second after he sees it, he smells it. Fresh chocolate chip cookies. Perhaps Luke’s most favorite smell in the world.

He’s confused, though. Usually when they get cookies delivered it’s a gift to all of them at the Help Desk from their supervisor, or to celebrate someone’s birthday or something. Luke can’t think of any reason why there’d be a box of cookies just for him. Maybe they were misdelivered. He picks up the small envelope taped to the top of the box and pulls out the card inside.

_Luke,_

_Please accept these cookies in place of a glowing survey response. Thank you for helping me today. I hope you like chocolate chip._

_I wanted to send doughnuts since your deadbeat boss didn’t get you any, but the doughnut place doesn’t deliver._

_Your favorite customer,_

_Calum_

Luke reads through the note, brow wrinkling and a confused smile spreading across his face. Calum sent him cookies? This is easily the nicest thing a customer has ever done for him, and it’s also kind of unbelievable to Luke that Calum took the time to look up the Help Desk address and order cookies for him.

It’s kind of a lot, actually. Luke doesn’t know what to think. It doesn’t seem exactly normal that someone would send him cookies for spending a total of 15 minutes talking to them on the phone about two extremely simple technical problems. But…based on their last conversation, it’s fairly clear Calum doesn’t really know or care what’s _normal_ when it comes to these sorts of things.

He opens the box of cookies and breathes in deeply to savor the scent of sugar and chocolate. It tickles the same part of his brain as Calum’s warm laugh.

**IV (Thursday)**

Most of Luke’s coworkers hate morning shifts, but Luke _loves_ morning shifts at the walk-in desk because it’s completely dead. He usually gets at least an hour to himself before the first customer shows up, and he uses that time to catch up on his homework for the week.

The walk-in desk is situated in the corner of a large common area filled with tables and stained chairs and rolling whiteboards, so even when Luke doesn’t have any customers, there are usually at least a few students studying nearby. This morning when he comes in to work he passes a cluster of students solving a complex math problem on one of the whiteboards, then does a double take when he notices a hot guy tapping away at his laptop at the table directly across from the walk-in desk.

He tries to focus on his journalism homework but every time the hot guy shifts in his seat, Luke catches it in his peripheral vision, then his attention is inevitably drawn to the guy’s face for at least a few seconds before he can refocus on his work. It’s not terribly uncommon for Luke to notice attractive guys milling around near the walk-in desk, but they don’t usually distract him as much as this particular guy.

There’s nothing especially unique about him at first glance. He’s dressed in joggers and a hoodie, and he’s slumped in his chair a little – terrible posture, with his shoulders hunched so his face is closer to the height of the laptop sitting on the table in front of him. But there’s something about that face. It’s not just that this guy is attractive, which he is very much is with his warm brown eyes, full lips and impressively fluffy dark hair.

It’s just…he looks _nice_. Like if Luke waved at him, he’d smile and wave back. He’d definitely call 911 if Luke suddenly collapsed on the floor or something. It’s a strangely comfortable feeling, having this guy nearby on a quiet morning. His face is settled into an expression Luke can only describe as delighted confusion. His forehead is wrinkled a bit, eyes squinting, but there’s a ghost of a smile on his face and a sparkle in his eyes. Luke wonders what he’s looking at that would cause him to make that particular face.

The guy’s eyes shift upward and he catches Luke staring at him. Luke blushes and tries to slowly, casually let his eyes drift back down to his homework. He is very careful not to lift his head again for exactly five minutes, but when he finally does, the guy is watching him. Unlike Luke, he doesn’t look away. He smiles. Luke smiles back, because he’s glad he was right about this guy being nice, and because technically he’s working and he needs to be polite. And maybe a little bit because this guy is pretty cute and Luke’s depressingly single.

The guy stands up, open laptop in hand, and starts walking toward Luke, still smiling pleasantly. “Hey,” he says as he approaches, setting his laptop on top of the counter.

“Good morning,” Luke greets him, getting up from his chair. “Something I can help you with?”

“Yeah, actually. My laptop keeps trying to connect to the dorm wi-fi instead of the campus wi-fi. I don’t know why I can’t figure out this wi-fi stuff.”

Luke’s only half listening, because this guy’s voice is extremely familiar. It sounds like…”Calum?” he asks, right as the guy says, “Wait, are you Luke?”, eyes catching on Luke’s gold name tag.

They lock eyes and laugh, then there’s a beat of awkward silence. Luke would really like to take a moment to silently scream about the fact that the distractingly hot guy is actually Calum. He’s definitely going to have a breakdown over this when he’s off the clock. God. The things Luke would do to Calum in the name of superior customer service.

“I was hoping you’d be working down here today,” Calum says.

“Really?”

“Well, yeah,” Calum replies, like it should be obvious. He smiles shyly. “I kinda came in for the sole purpose of maybe getting to meet you.”  
  
Luke blinks at him. “You’re not…having computer problems?”

“No, I am _now_. But I wasn’t before. When I decided to walk over to the Help Desk.”

“Wait. So.” Luke pauses, mouth gaping open as he tries to process what’s going on. “You came to the Help Desk just so you could maybe meet me, and you _happened_ to start having computer problems when you got here?”

Calum grins sheepishly. “Yeah, pretty much. It’s convenient, though. Gave me a reason to come up and talk to you.”

Okay, so yesterday Calum sent him cookies. Today Calum randomly shows up at the walk-in desk just to see Luke. “You’re not a stalker or something, are you?” Luke blurts.

Calum giggles, like legitimately giggles, and Luke’s almost certain he can’t be anything other than completely harmless. “Maybe I am,” he says with a shrug. “But I’m also a customer in desperate need of technical support.” He spins his laptop around to face Luke.

Luke gives him a skeptical smile, but pulls the laptop closer to him to take a look. “See,” Calum says, pointing at the screen. “It’s trying to connect to the dorm wi-fi but the signal isn’t strong enough here.”

“Have you, um, tried just selecting the campus-general wi-fi network from the menu?” Luke asks, trying to keep a straight face.

Calum’s lips smush together and his nose wrinkles. “I just click on it?” he asks, gently brushing Luke’s hand out of the way on the laptop’s trackpad.

“Yup. Should do the trick.” Luke tries very hard not to laugh, lips twitching against his will.

Calum doesn’t miss it, looking up at Luke with faux offense after he clicks onto the correct wi-fi network. “Is this what you’re always doing on the phone? Silently laughing at me?” A smile slips out, betraying his tone.

Luke lets himself laugh fully, then shrugs helplessly. “I told you – you’re not Help Desk material.”

“Yeah, and I warned you I’d be calling a lot. I know my weaknesses.” Calum folds his arms on top of the counter and slouches over so he can rest his head on top of them while he waits for the internet to connect.

“I’m sure you have strengths in other areas,” Luke replies politely, unconsciously biting at his lip ring while he watches Calum’s laptop screen closely.

Calum smirks up at him, nodding. “You’re right, I do.”

Luke smirks back at him, then catches movement on the laptop screen out of the corner of his eye. “Looks like it worked,” he says, gesturing at the screen.

Calum smiles brightly and straightens back up to standing. “Thanks, Luke!”

“Just doing my job,” Luke says with a shrug. “Always happy to help my favorite customer.”

“Oh yeah!” Calum exclaims, snapping his laptop shut. “Did you get your cookies?”

Luke laughs and holds up the baggie of leftover cookies he’d brought along with him to snack on ahead of his tedious anthropology class. He’ll need the sugar rush to stay awake. “I did. Thank you. I’ve never had a customer send me cookies before.”

Calum props his elbow on the counter, leaning closer to Luke. “Which is exactly why I’m your favorite customer, right?” He attempts a wink, stifling a laugh.

Luke nods agreeably. “You certainly will be if you keep enabling my sugar addiction.”

“Noted.” Calum pulls his phone out of his pocket and taps around for a moment, like maybe he is actually making a note. _Bribe Help Desk guy with sugar._ Luke chuckles a little at the thought, and Calum looks up at him. “Seems pretty quiet this morning,” he observes.

“Yeah. Mornings usually are. I get lots of homework done.” Luke taps the cover of his journalism textbook for emphasis.

Calum’s eyes drift over the counter to skim the cover of Luke’s book. “Do you ever get bored?”

Luke makes a show of gesturing out at the quiet, mostly-empty space around them. “Bored? Here?” Calum laughs and a little bolt of electricity zips through Luke’s chest. “Nah, it can be kind of dull, but I don’t mind.”

Calum leans in again and lowers his voice, like he’s telling Luke a secret. “Do you ever get weirdos stopping by? Like people who just want to tell you about conspiracy theories or warn you about the end of the world?”

He doesn’t, but now he’s never going to stop being paranoid about it. “An occasional weirdo, I guess, but they usually have a legitimate question.” Luke matches Calum’s secretive tone and looks furtively around the walk-in area. “No one’s tried to convince me they’ve been abducted by aliens or anything.”

Calum grins playfully at Luke. “I bet you get hit on all the time.” It’s not even a question. He says it like it’s just a fact, like Luke getting hit on at the walk-in desk is as inevitable as the next Marvel movie getting number one at the box office.

Luke laughs nervously. “Not really.” Sometimes he’ll have an interaction with a customer that feels a little flirty, but Luke doesn’t really trust his judgment when it comes to these kinds of things.

It’s a real problem for him, actually. He can’t tell when people are flirting with him if they’re subtle, but if they’re too blatant he’s turned off by it. You can’t just ask someone you met three minutes ago on a date. Not if that someone is Luke, anyway. There’s no way he can commit to an entire date with someone who he knows nothing about. The opportunities for awkwardness and discomfort are way, way too high. So basically, Luke is screwed either way and will never find a suitable boyfriend.

“I find that hard to believe,” Calum says, eyeing Luke meaningfully.

This interaction has taken the kind of turn that has Luke’s entire body heating uncomfortably. He hopes it doesn’t show on his face. But he also doesn’t want it to stop. “Maybe it’s just too early for the sort of guys who would be into me to be out seeking technical support.”

“You might be onto something,” Calum says, glancing around at the small clusters of students nearby. “I know I wouldn’t be here this early if I didn’t have a pretty good idea you’d be here.”

Okay, this is interesting. Luke is going to have a lot to obsess over after his shift. Meeting Calum, the revelation that Calum is incredibly hot, Calum’s admission that he came to the walk-in desk just to see Luke, and now Calum suggesting he altered his normal routine to do so. Not to mention the potential implication that Calum is the sort of guy who would be into Luke. Fucking hell.

“I’m glad you did. This is the most excitement I’ve seen at the walk-in desk in weeks.”

“I’m exciting?” Calum asks, clearly pleased.

Luke nods enthusiastically. “Extremely.” He does his best to make it sound sincere. Sometimes he has a problem with sounding sarcastic when he flirts; knows all too well that moment when the other person’s eyes go dim at one of his unintentionally snarky responses and he can tell he’s lost his shot.

Calum’s eyes don’t go dim. They do the exact opposite, brightening to the point where Luke could swear he sees an actual shimmer in Calum’s deep brown irises.

**V (Friday)**

All hell breaks loose on Friday morning. The login system is down and the Help Desk is flooded with calls. Luke gets recruited to field some of the excess call volume from his spot at the walk-in desk. He barely gets a chance to breathe during the first 45 minutes of his shift, just taking call after call where he recites the same three sentences to customers over and over again. Most of them are understanding, but eventually he gets a call from an angry man who just wants to yell and swear.

Luke’s slumped in his chair in defeat as he listens to some guy rail on him for something that is completely out of his control when he spots Calum coming through the front door. He stands and waves, the angry man’s yelling fading into white noise. Calum waves back and yells a greeting across the empty room.

Luke points at his headset and tries to use his hands to communicate that he’s on the phone. Calum nods in understanding, approaching the counter quietly. He looks awfully cozy in his gray hoodie. Maybe Luke could leverage the fact that this rude guy is yelling at him into some kind of sympathy snuggle from Calum.

This guy is _still_ yelling, and Luke occasionally mumbles back at him to indicate that he is listening (he’s not). Calum waits patiently, hip propped up against the counter and his gaze on Luke. Luke’s getting antsy, tired of getting yelled at and anxious to have a chance to talk to Calum. Eventually he mutes his own phone so the customer can’t hear him. “Hey, Calum. Sorry. There’s a big outage this morning so I have to take calls. This guy’s been yelling at me for fifteen minutes.”

Calum winces. “Sorry. That sounds fucking miserable.” His voice is quiet, almost a whisper, and Luke smiles at its softness. With his hoodie and his soft voice (and his probably-soft lips), Calum is the exact opposite of the screaming customer.

“It happens,” Luke shrugs. “Do you need help with something? I can come find you once this guy finally calms down.”

Calum shakes his head. “Not this time. I just wanted to give you this.” He holds up a small paper bag, stained with grease.

“Is that…” Luke’s eyes widen and his stomach grumbles.

“Maple bar,” Calum confirms, setting the bag on Luke’s side of the counter.

“For me?” Calum nods. Luke notices there’s silence on the other end of the phone line and quickly unmutes himself. He has no idea what the customer had said last, so he has to wing it. “Again, I’m really sorry about the inconvenience. We’ll let you know as soon as the outage is resolved.”

“Inconvenience?!” the guy yells. “This is more than just an inconvenience, you fucking moron! This is my livelihood!”

Calum hears the screaming through the phone and makes a face of pure disgust. Luke rolls his eyes and mutes himself again as the customer starts on a new tangent, anger now rekindled.

“Did you get one for yourself?” Luke asks, attention back on the doughnut Calum placed in front of him.

“Yeah.” Calum holds up another bag. “I thought we could eat together; maybe I could keep you from getting too bored this morning. But it looks like you’re pretty busy.” The disappointment is palpable in his voice.

Luke hates it, but Calum’s right. “Yeah. That sounds amazing, but I’m not sure I’ll get much downtime this morning.”

“Another time, then.”

“Yeah.” Luke’s voice sounds just as sad as Calum’s. He would so much rather spend his morning eating doughnuts with Calum than talking to rude people on the phone.

“Well, I guess I should –” Calum gestures weakly toward the door and starts backing away from the counter. “—let you get back to it.”

“Thanks for the doughnut,” Luke says, not even bothering to hide the pout on his face.

He watches sadly as Calum leaves. It’s just his fucking luck that the day Calum decides to come in and have breakfast with him is the one day in Luke’s entire six months on the job that he’s actually busy at the walk-in desk. Calum turns and gives him a wave and a sympathetic smile before he walks out the door.

**+1 (Next Friday)**

Most college students spend their weekends doing homework, zoning out in front of a screen, getting drunk, or some mix of the three. Luke is not most college students. He spent his weekend thinking about Calum.

It might have _looked_ like he was doing those other, normal things, but he was just going through the motions. His brain was stuck on an infinite loop of Calum. It got so bad that he accidentally replied “Calum, please.” when Michael asked him what he wanted on his pizza Saturday night. At least he was polite about it. Michael definitely won’t let him live that one down any time soon.

He can’t stop thinking about Calum; can’t stop wishing he could see Calum again. It’s starting to freak him out a little. He can’t remember the last time he was this stuck on a person. But he’s also never been in a situation where someone like Calum was even, like, _an option_ for him. He doesn’t even know if Calum actually _is_ an option for him, but that doesn’t stop his brain from fixating.

If he’s not thinking about Calum’s smile or Calum’s lips or Calum’s voice or Calum’s easy laugh, he’s replaying the same daydream in his head over and over - cuddling on his dorm room futon with Calum, snuggling _hard_ into that gray hoodie, letting himself melt into Calum’s warmth. And then, depending on what Luke’s doing while the daydream is playing, sometimes it goes further, and his hands are under Calum’s hoodie and Calum’s beautiful lips are on his neck, and it would be really great if Michael would just _shut up_ about The Avengers for five minutes so Luke can enjoy his sexy daydream.

Luke didn’t really expect to hear from Calum on Monday during his phone shift, but he was hopeful that Calum might pop in to keep him company during one of his walk-in shifts. But when Friday rolls around and there’s still no sign of Calum, Luke starts spiraling. Did he miss his opportunity? Has he done something that made Calum change his mind about wanting to spend time with him? He is remembering correctly that Calum said “ _Another time,”_ right?

Luke’s not really a man of action. He’s a thinker and a planner, but when it comes to the actual doing, he’s usually content to follow someone else’s lead. He certainly doesn’t make the first move when it comes to guys he’s interested in. Hell, he doesn’t even make the first move when it comes to making friends. But Luke doesn’t think he can take another weekend of obsessing over Calum, especially now that the obsession is layered with anxiety and despair that he may never even see him again.

He finally snaps halfway through his shift on Friday. He’s really not supposed to use his special permissions to look up information about students unless he actively needs it to help them. But Calum’s email address is in the public directory. It wouldn’t be that creepy to send him an email, right? He just needs to figure out what to say that doesn’t sound incredibly desperate. He settles on inquiring about Calum’s wellbeing. It might still be kind of weird, but at least it’s a sweet kind of weird and not an _I want to wear your face_ kind of weird.

_Hi Calum,_

_Haven’t heard from you or seen you this week. Just wanted to make sure you’re okay. Michael’s been sick with a death cold for the past three days. Maybe you have that. Or maybe your roommate murdered you? He seemed nice enough from what I heard on the phone but you really can’t trust people who don’t eat doughnuts._

_Sorry if this is weird. I miss my favorite customer. Anyway. Just…let me know if you’re alive, or something._

_Help Desk Luke_

_P.S. Assuming you are still alive, please enjoy the attached cute video of an otter eating ice._

Luke reads through the message half a dozen times, then clicks send before he can spend any more time agonizing over it. He’s on edge for a while, waiting for a response or for the campus police to come and arrest him for being creepy and sending otter videos to his customers. But nothing happens, which is almost worse.

He eventually resorts to distracting himself with _The Office_. It’s risky, but desperate times and all. Two episodes in, the desk phone starts ringing, which is a little mystifying. If his coworkers upstairs need him for anything, they usually just send him a message. He considers ignoring it all together. It’s probably a spam call. As he’s debating his next move, his cell phone buzzes with a text from Michael.

 **Michael:** pick up the phone u idiot

This better not be some kind of elaborate prank. Against his better judgement, Luke answers the phone. “IT Help Desk, this is Luke.”

“Luke! It’s Calum!” Calum, who is clearly alive! And excited to talk to him!

“Calum! Hey! I didn’t know what to do when the walk-in desk phone rang. That never happens.”

“Yeah, Michael transferred me down. I got your email.” He doesn’t sound like he’s weirded out. Perhaps Luke actually did something smart for once in his life.

“Oh, yeah. Sorry if that was strange. I was just kinda worried.” Luke catches himself anxiously biting at his lip ring again pulls his lip out from under his teeth.

“No, I was excited to hear from you! I’ve been meaning to stop by this week but my physics professor assigned this massive group project and the only time we can meet is in the mornings, so I just haven’t had a chance.”

Luke’s face splits into a grin and a relieved laugh bubbles out of his mouth. “Doesn’t your physics professor know I owe you a maple bar?”

“God, I hope not. I don’t need Professor Boggess knowing that much about my personal life.”

“Are maple bars really that personal?”

“They are for me, Luke,” Calum says earnestly. “Extremely personal.” He snickers and Luke is grinning like an absolute fool. “But! I have a technical support issue I could use your help with.”

“Aw. You weren’t just calling to talk to me?”

“I’m always just calling to talk to you. The technical issues just _happen_ to come up when you’re around,” Calum says. Luke can hear the smile in his voice and he wishes so badly that he could see it too.

“Damn it, you figured out my game. Create technical problems so I can heroically fix them.”

Calum’s laughter fills Luke’s ears in surround sound and okay, maybe not being able to see him is all right as long as he gets to experience having his brain absolutely bathed in Calum’s warm laugh. “The thing is that Sarah – she’s in my physics group – just used my laptop to download a research paper, and now I keep getting this pop-up message that there’s a virus on my computer.”

“Fuck, Calum, why does this have to be the time you have an actual real issue? I thought we were just going to have a nice little chat and I’d tell you to restart your computer and everything would be fine, but this might actually take some work.” Luke sighs and pulls up a support ticket to log Calum’s call.

“Interesting,” Calum says, a mischievous edge in his voice. “Is this something that might be easier to solve in person?”

“Definitely,” Luke says, entering Calum’s information in the ticket. “If you want I can put in a ticket for it and then whoever is working when you have a chance to come to the walk-in desk will know what to do to help you.”

“What if I don’t want someone else to help me?”

It’s a nice sentiment, but not a very practical one. “I mean. You could wait. Like, until you can come in during one of my walk-in shifts. But it’s probably not a good idea to wait that long if you have a virus or spyware or something.”

Calum hums thoughtfully, almost theatrically. Luke feels like he’s stumbled into some sort of performance art scene. “What if you helped me with it off the clock in exchange for, say, dinner?”

That knocks the wind out of Luke and an embarrassingly eager noise escapes him before he manages to compose himself. “That could probably be arranged.”

“You free tonight?”

“At the risk of sounding pathetic, yes I am.”

“Good,” Calum says happily. “I can’t wait to see what you look like without your name tag.”

***

On Monday, there’s a new survey tacked to the wall:

_Luke does it again! New best customer service experience of my life! He knew exactly what buttons to push on my laptop for optimal results, and he didn’t even mind when I got mouthy. 12/10 would still recommend Luke’s services for ANY and EVERYTHING._

**Author's Note:**

> i'm on tumblr [@staticsounds](https://staticsounds.tumblr.com); come say hi!


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